Internal fuel combustion engines are used in a variety of circumstances such as automobiles, marine crafts, aircrafts, locomotives, diesel trucks, stationary diesel engines, to name a few. All internal combustion engines have moving parts which are susceptible to wear and damage during operation due to the presence of foreign material and/or breakdown of engine oil. Engine oils are used to lubricate interfaces or surfaces between the moving parts; however, volatile fluids and contaminants found in engine oils can significantly reduce the useful service life of the oil. Many have realized that engine oils having an extended service life can provide wide spread benefits, therefore attempts have been made to accomplish this purpose.
Generally, a number of methods and approaches have been implemented by those in the industry to extend the engine oil service life. One specific approach has been to formulate oils to include various additives. For example, additives can be designed to reduce or prevent oxidation, neutralize acids, and/or reduce agglomeration of particulates. In addition, specific additives such as viscosity modifiers have also been used to extend the temperature range over which the oils operate thereby improving the service life of the oil. However, such additives typically have a finite period of usefulness until the additive is exhausted or otherwise rendered ineffective.
Another common approach for extending oil service life is to filter the oil in an attempt to remove particulate matter. Typically, full flow particulate filters are utilized to filter particulates to extend service life. These particulate filters have become a standard in internal combustion engines, however, merely removing particulates from engine oil only accounts for a portion of the contaminants. The presence of water and other volatile fluids in lubricating engine oils can also reduce the service life of the oil and can be detrimental to internal engine performance. Moisture or volatile fluids can result in the production of unwanted corrosion and oxidation producing acids and additional particulates.
Previous attempts to develop processes which reduce water content or other volatile fluids from engine oil have been met with varying degrees of success. Some of these processes have utilized heated surfaces in various configurations. The various configurations allow for the surface to be heated by supplemental heat sources or thermal conduction from the heat of the engine oil. Removal or vaporization of volatile fluids in these processes is usually accomplished by forming a thin film of oil over the heated surface. However, these processes are typically inefficient since they often place undesirable electrical loads on the vehicle's electrical system. Further, the complexities of supplemental heating sources can jeopardize the reliability and increase the difficulty of the installation of the device. In the event problems arise with the device, isolating and trouble shooting the problems will require analyzing the extra components provided by the supplemental heating source. In addition, the previous processes can sometimes promote unpredictable and inconvenient environments due to supplemental heating sources which are in direct contact with combustible fluids. Other oil reconditioning processes can direct engine oil past an outer surface of a thin film evaporator. Heat from the passing oil heats the thin film evaporator surface prior to the oil entering the evaporator. Supplemental electrical heating may be avoided in this process, however, the heat transfer may be insufficient for proper separation of the volatile fluids from the engine oil and the design configuration may not provide adequate continuous fluid flow.
Although these devices have improved oil quality and extended service life to some degree, each suffers from problems such as unreliable performance, unpredictable dangerous environments, limited practicality, inefficiency, increased costs, and other deficiencies which prevent their widespread use.
As such, systems and methods offering removal of volatile fluids thereby providing improved oil quality and extended service intervals, and which are suitable for use in practical applications continue to be sought through ongoing research and development efforts.